I've been watching Fed since, the beginning, practically. But, it's still amazes me how a player of such caliber has probably one of the worse BPs conversion rates. I never could understand this. Is it because he's just a nervous person at heart? Or is it all about concentration? Doesn't it just baffles you? Especially when he dumps a weak 2nd serves to the net on BPs. I mean, you got to think "What the hell is he doing?".

Fed goes out there and plays good tennis. If he loses 4 games in a row after being up 4-0, it isn't because he got nervous, but because his opponent red-lined and Fed just kept chugging away. I'd say it's this lack of over-playing that causes the bad break-point conversation.

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Fed goes out there and plays good tennis. If he loses 4 games in a row after being up 4-0, it isn't because he got nervous, but because his opponent red-lined and Fed just kept chugging away. I'd say it's this lack of over-playing that causes the bad break-point conversation.

Hitting a weak 2nd serve is hardly red-lining anything.

But, maybe you're on to something about the lack of over-playing. Maybe Fed just wants to play it safe so it gives the opponent an opening to be the aggressor.

Heres how I see it. Every player is effected by nerves. But I think players who are defensive/retrievers are not as effected by this. A defensive player can "shut off" his brain when he has a BP opportunity, and just concentrate on returning the ball. Concentrate on that single action.

A player like Federer attempts to construct the point well. He cant just concentrate on defending and putting the ball back in. He has to think more, he cant "shut off" his brain, so he will be effected more by nerves.

Heres how I see it. Every player is effected by nerves. But I think players who are defensive/retrievers are not as effected by this. A defensive player can "shut off" his brain when he has a BP opportunity, and just concentrate on returning the ball. Concentrate on that single action.

A player like Federer attempts to construct the point well. He cant just concentrate on defending and putting the ball back in. He has to think more, he cant "shut off" his brain, so he will be effected more by nerves.

I agree save that it's not only defensive players who can "shut off" their brains. Eg Sampras was a very attacking player but he had a very simple "one strike" playstyle which didn't involve a lot of thinking. And he was super clutch at key moments.

With Fed a lot more thinking goes into his game/ point construction, which can be affected by nerves more easily.

On winning DC and its overall importance in the discussion for all-time greats

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orbis

Davis Cup should never have really mattered in the GOAT discussion anyway since it's a team event. If you're talking about the GOAT singles player then you should mainly look at individual results.If some unknown talent came out of some random tiny country (no chance to win DC) and won 20 slams, no one would give a single shit if that player didn't have DC. The fact is, success in DC is largely determined by what country you come from or play for in the first place, which most players haven't had any control over.